AB1839-HPR PERINATAL GRIEF IN WOMEN WITH AUTOIMMUNE RHEUMATIC DISEASES
Authors: M. E. Corral Trujillo, R. A. Cerda González, H. G. Martínez Sandoval, A. Carrazco Chapa, K. M. López Serna, J. C. Riega-Torres, L. Pérez Barbosa, C. M. Skinner Taylor, D. Á. Galarza-Delgado
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2023)

<h3>Background</h3> Perinatal loss (PL), defined as a loss from any gestational age or in the neonatal period [1] lead women to the process of grieving. Perinatal Grief (PG) involves suffering and reaction such as sadness, disbelief and anger [2]. PL and PG symptoms affect many women around the world; women with autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARDs) have greater risk of PL. The Perinatal Grief Scale (PGS) can help health providers prevent complicated grief in their patients [3]. <h3>Objectives</h3> Determine which PL and sociodemographic variables are associated factors to a complicated grief in women with ARDs. <h3>Methods</h3> Descriptive, cross-sectional, comparative study at the Hospital Universitario "Dr. José Eleuterio González" in México. We included women from the Pregnancy and Rheumatic Diseases Clinic (CEER) that answer a virtual survey with the PGS. The demographic, ARD and PL data were obtained from the clinical records. For the control group, women without ARD were invited to fill a virtual survey with the PGS, sociodemographic and PL data. The PGS is a Likert-type scale that consists of 27 items with four response options. The questions are distributed in four subscales: active grief (10 items), guilt (8 items), depression (6 items), acceptance (3 items). Scores greater than 50 points suggests a complicated grief comorbidity. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to determine normality; to analyze the differences between groups, Mann–Whitney U, Chi-square tests and T-test were employed. A p &lt; 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The statistical analysis was performed with the statistical program SPSS version 25. <h3>Results</h3> A total of 50 women were included: 25 with ARD and 25 without ARD. The median age for the group with ARD was 42 (38.5-51) and 34 (26-42.5) for the without ARD group. In the ARD group the most frequent diagnosis were systemic lupus erythematosus (7/14%), rheumatoid arthritis (6/12%) and Antiphospholipid Syndrome (4/8%). For the PGS, twenty (40%) of the 50 women got a score &gt;50; 11 (55%) were women without ARD and 9(45%) have ARD. The PL, suffered by these 20 women were 18 during the pregnancy (17/85% on the first trimester and 1/5% on the second trimester) and 2 (10%) after birth. No statistically differences were found in the total score and subscales of the PGS between groups. The sociodemographic and PL data and the PGS score for both groups are included in <b>table 1.</b> <h3>Conclusion</h3> Even though there were no significant differences between groups; we hypothesize that the greater number of PL in women with ARD serves as a protective factor and prevents that the PG evolve to a complicated grief. On the other hand, having the PL during the first trimester of the pregnancy can be a risk factor for complicated grief. Our limitation was the sample size for both groups. <h3>References</h3> [1] Côté-Arsenault D and Denney-Loelsch E (2016) "Have no regrets": Parents' experiences and developmental task in pregnancy with lethal fetal diagnosis. Social Sciences and Medicine 154, 100–109. [2] Bonanno GA and Kaltman S (2001) The varieties of grief experience. Clinical Psychology Review 21, 705–734. [3] Mota González C, Calleja Bello N, Aldana Calva E, Gómez López ME, Sánchez Pichardo MA. Escala de duelo perinatal: validación en mujeres mexicanas con pérdida gestacional. Revista latinoamericana de psicología. 2011 Sep;43(3):419-28. <h3>Acknowledgements:</h3> NIL. <h3>Disclosure of Interests</h3> None Declared.